Thoughts from the Shore from the Joe Blog

I posted on the Jewels of Encouragement blog today from Sunny Florida.  My Thoughts from the Shore.

http://www.jewelsofencouragement.com/2012/06/thoughts-from-shore.html

I'll be sharing more on my own blog.  Lots I'm learning from God's glory and majesty from the ocean.  It's beautiful here!

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Bring the Rain!

Here in Central Illinois, we need the rain BAD.  You see the corn in the picture?  The stalks are curling up.  My husband said that it's trying to protect itself from the sun.  There's only so much it can do, though before it gets burnt.  What it needs is a good soaking rain and then some more.

That's what I do too, when I'm in a dry spell in my walk with the Lord.  I close myself up.  I shield myself from getting hurt.


This corn is begging to be watered though.  The stalks are reaching toward heaven.  When I stood beside the field taking these pictures, I could hear the stalks rubbing together making their own music.  "Please bring the rain," they plead in unison.  "Please bring the rain."

I suppose I plead the same thing yet I'm in control.  Duh.  Open the Book.  Pray.  Listen.  Summers are my very hardest times emotionally for some odd reason.  You would think it would be the best because I don't work.  I have all this free time but...no.  I'm not disciplined enough to handle it and I spiral down into a free fall.

And then I give in to the physical pain that seeks to bring me down all the school year.  It knocks me flat and flat is where I usually end up staying.  Knowing this is how I am, I was ready this time.  I prayed that God would bring my rain.  And He did.


I'm volunteering at The Lighthouse Thrift Store a couple times a days a each week this summer.  That has brought so much joy into my life, you just can't imagine.  It has also taught me some new skills.  I've never used a cash register before.  Who said you can't teach old dogs new tricks?  So there!  :)  I've needed a woman to pour into my life, and God gave me that woman in Linda Kropp, the owner of the Lighthouse. She's just what I needed in this season of my life and I'm learning so much from her by watching her interact with customers and the volunteers and being part of her prayer circles.  She is a godly woman and I want to be like her when I grow up:)

I'm going off on an adventure next week with a small group of women friends to Florida.  That will be relaxing and fun.  God is so good to allow me to do this.  It was about five years ago now, I think, when Josh Janoski showed Mari and me that we COULD meet even though we were 2,000 miles away.  Since then, we've been doing just that.  The world is a small place to the younger generation  than it is to us, for sure.  Josh had to prove it to us and we learned he was right!  I'll be forever grateful to Josh and all he did for us!  And now he's married and a daddy.  I'm so proud of him!

And at the end of July, God has more travelling in store for me.  It's been a wonderful summer already.  Oh!  And I forgot about Special Touch Camp!  I've also done quite a bit of writing, editing and lots of reading!

God is good.  I'm excited for this summer and I certainly don't want to think about the dreaded 's' word!  Not yet anyway.  I'll be ready to go back when it's time but not yet.  For now, I'm enjoying each day as it comes, whatever God has in store for me.  Each one is unique.  I love that!

Meanwhile, I'm praying that God brings that physical rain.  We do
need it bad.  And I can always use more spiritual rain to fall.  Fall on us all, Holy Spirit.

"You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; I, the LORD, have created it."  NIV


P.S.  Thank You God, for bringing the rain only a few hours after I wrote this blog!

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Elizabeth Mary Anderson and Her Mama

This story got knocked out of the running for the topic, Current Events, this week.  Just a second too late.  Sad, huh?  So I'm sharing it here today.  I happened to catch a news story on Good Morning America yesterday that gave me the idea.  I wasn't even going to write an entry but it got me awake and my mind moving.  Parents and graduates were getting in major trouble for cheering excessively at graduation.  Can you imagination?  They were being fined, jailed, and some given community service.  Just crazy!  

Another idea I was going to write about was this new law about putting your dog in seat belts.  Another stiff fine if it's not done.  In many cases, it's a higher fine than if your children aren't buckled up.  Again, CRAZY!!  

Here's my story that was born from GMA and written two hours before it was due.  

Elizabeth Mary Anderson and Her Mama

My dad, he ain’t been in my life.  Just me and Mama struggled through.  She a good mama too.  There were days I didn’t want to get out of bed for school but Mama made me.  She even pulled the mattress out from under me one time.  I came up cussing and she ran and got the soap.  I ate a bar of Ivory for breakfast that day.  My sophomore year, she caught me running with a gang and I didn’t run nowhere for a month.  That ole gang, they scared of my mama after that.  She called their mama’s too.  There were lots of full pews in church that next Sunday.  I sure did feel holes burning in the backa my head though.

We did it!  Me and my momma.  It was a hard four years but she pulled and pushed me through high school.  Every night she stood over me while I did homework. 

Mama say, “Edu-cation important, Lissibeth.  You gonna make sumpin of youself if it kill both of us.”

Sometimes it did just that.  I felt murdered one hundred times over.  Mama a slave driver.  Weren’t no tv in our house.  No cable.  No computer.  I go to the library and work for hours and when I got home, Mama, she be home from work by then and have a meal ready for me then she make me read books, like To Kill a Mockingbird.  She say they good for me.

Mama don’t read.  She never learned.  Don’t know why.  She smart. When my homework done, I bring out Dr. Seuss and she read The Cat in the Hat.  She embarrassed but she also proud.  Proud I want to teach her.  Proud I’m not ashamed of her.   I would never ever be ashamed of Mama.  She my Rock. 

At night she ‘read’ the Bible to me.  It was years before I found out she wasn’t really reading it. Many parts she had memorized and others, she told the stories.   She sat in her rocking chair and the words spilled out.  I closed my eyes and pretended like I was right there.  Sometimes though, I be so tired, I fell asleep, then I felt Mama’s wrath.  She whacked me on the head and I sat up straight again and she picked up where she left off.  We both worked hard but Mama worked way harder. 

After I went to sleep, she stayed up and cleaned our little apartment.  I heard her working on her words in the book too.  I always left my homework out on our little kitchen table.  She opened it up and looked at it then I heard her pray over it every single night.  And she prayed for me.  My mama, she special.  I sure love my mama. 

So today, you see, is special for both of us.  We’re both up early.  She ironing my graduation gown and my dress I’m wearing underneath.  We searched every thrift store in Chicago looking for the perfect one.  We had so much fun.  I never saw Mama giggle like I did that day.  It like she graduating instead of me.  Wish she could stand up there with me.  I’d let her if she could.  She did it with me. 

“Lissie!  Getting’ late.  Getta move on!”

That my mama.  She just a little bit excited.  I gathered up my things.  It was time to get to the L for our trip to the school.

“Mama,” I had to talk loud above the other excited voices on the train.  “Remember, there’s no loud cheering when I walk across the stage.”

She just looked at me. 

“Said they enforcing it this year.  They mean it.”

Mama grinned.   She’s so excited.  I can’t take this away from her.  This her graduation as much as it is mine.  If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be here.  I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.  “I love you, Mama.  Thank you for everything.”

She smiled a big white toothy grin.  That’s my mama.

Elizabeth Mary Anderson

And she did it.  Sweet Mama stood and hooted.  She hollered.  She whistled. 

The school…they good on their word.

My sweet mama.  She taken away in handcuffs.  

Her crime:   She too loud. 

Really?  My Mama?

I demanded handcuffs on me too. 

We in jail right now.  She teach me my about civil rights and the greats like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr…    

Mama always say school never ends.

I  love my mama. 

******************

Author’s Note:

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/06/06/parents-dont-cheer-at-graduation-you-could-get-arrested-116763

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Stand UP! Summer Series.. #1 Even if...

**There is an error in this post that a good friend found and quickly and told me.  I decided not to fix it though.  Whoever is the first to tell me in a comment, I will send a bag of Starbucks Decaffeinated Espresso Whole Beans to you.  Leave me your address and I'll gladly send you a bag of fresh yummy beans.  mmmmm....:)**  -- Vonnie Blake wins and I'll send her a bag of beans and now I'm going to fix my post.  Thanks, Mari:)

School's out!  First day of summer vacation!  Ahhhh!  I've got things on my mind. A Bible to study. Words to write.  Books to read.    A house to clean.  A garden to weed.  Appointments to make.  A pool to swim in.  Our kids to visit.  Garage sales to find.
For now though, I need to go back to things on my mind; A Bible to study; and words to write.

When I was at school, I watched the kids make choices.  Not always good ones.  Peer pressure is awful.  Much different than when I was in school.  When I walked down the halls some days in the past six years, I felt like a high school student, too.  Funny, huh?  Some of the 'popular' kids reduced me to feeling like a lowly freshman with toilet paper trailing from my shoe.  It wasn't them though.  They did nothing to me.  They didn't even realize I felt like that.  It was just something left-over from my teenage days.  Once I got to know them, they were as nice as could be even.  There's just something about high school that makes you forget who you are and what you believe and then...on the other hand...it makes you want to stand up and say -- HEY!  That's not right!

I don't even want to go political here because I'm so not politically minded but there is coming a time when we all are going to have to perk up and listen and see what's going on in this world of ours.  In order to get ready for days to come, I want to study courageous people throughout history.  I may choose from the Bible, or missionaries, or others from history.  This will be my new series for the summer.  I'm sure glad God gave me this idea.

My first 'person of interest' is Daniel, and of course we can't forget his good friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego .  Last Sunday, our children from church did a musical called, That's So Daniel'.  They, along with our pastors, did a fantastic job.  All throughout history and even now, people are having to stand up for what they believe.  We live in a cushy society here in the U.S. where we don't have to.  We think everything should be equal.  The Bible can't surely mean THAT!

Funny thing is, the Bible says we should strive to be like Jesus, and Jesus went to the cross for us.  That was the most politically incorrect thing He could have ever done.

Daniel and the guys, when told to eat the King's best food and wine - refused.  They ate only what wouldn't go against their principles.

When Daniel and his friends were told to serve King Nebuchadnezzar's gods and worship the image of gold,  this is what they said:

“King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and He will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if He does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” -- Daniel 3:16-17

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego got thrown into the furnace and lived another day.  Then Daniel experienced government corruption and jealousy and was thrown in with the lions.  

"Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators... by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. At this, the administrators...tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.” Daniel 6:1-5

Daniel was upright and just.  They couldn't find one thing against him.  Not one thing could be found on Google to bring him down.  

"So these administrators...went as a group to the king and said: “May King Darius live forever! The royal administrators... have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den." Daniel 6:6-7

So that's what happened.  The King didn't think about his friend Daniel and when Daniel heard about the edict, he didn't run away scared.  He didn't pray in his closet.  This is what he did:

"Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before."  Daniel 6:10

 Lo and behold, look who comes tattling...

“Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, Your Majesty, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day.” -- Daniel 6:13

The King had to follow through with what he said.  It was all about saving face.  Daniel got thrown into that den of lions but when the King came back the next morning, Daniel was still alive.  Again, a miracle.  Daniel was an upstanding man of God and because of that, the King did this:

“I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must 

fear and reverence the God of Daniel.

“For He is the living God 

and He endures forever; 

His kingdom will not be destroyed,

His dominion will never end. 

He rescues and He saves; 

He performs signs and wonders 

in the heavens and on the earth.

He has rescued Daniel

from the power of the lions.” 

Daniel 6:26-27

I want to be upstanding. 

Outstanding. 

I want to feel the lions breath, not its teeth.  I want to see the flames but not feel them.  

I want to stand true to the precepts of God but how do we know what they are?  We study God's Word, the Bible and, many times, we feel what's right in our spirit, what is true and what is false.  We ask for others who are strong in their faith to mentor us.  We find a Biblically sound church to grab hold of and become a part so that we can mature in the Lord.

And just as Daniel said in Daniel 3:18 "But even if (God doesn't deliver me from whatever) I want you to know, Your Majesty, that I will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” 

and I hope to be able to always say -- 

"But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15

Stand Up!  Summer Series

#1 Daniel - Even if...

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Firsts!

We have our very first garden.  So far - no weeds!  We also have some stripped plants and some awfully content bunnies.  Grrrr!

Our very first hummingbird came to visit our feeder.  My mom bought it for me two years ago for my birthday, which is in August, so it didn't get put out then.  I forgot about it last year so this year was its maiden voyage.  I couldn't believe we had a bird come so fast!  How do they know?  Will it go tell its friends?  :)  Hope so!  I have it outside my kitchen window and have seen it twice, both times without my phone to take a picture.

I have one more day until school's out!  Ahhhh.... I'm very happy about that.  I'll be going to Special Touch Camp the day after Memorial Day.  Happy about that too!  I need to figure out some goals for the summer to keep me moving forward.  But first...a little rest.  School was rough.

Well, it's been a long time since I've blogged and this is very lame but - it is what it is but at least it's a beginning again.  So, to recap:

*One last day of school to go!
*Our very first garden, which the bunnies are feasting on.
*Our very first hummingbird:)
*Special Touch Camp coming the end of May!
*I need to set goals for myself for the summer to keep some umph...
*June has some surprises of it's own.  Can't wait.  But first...  I will live one day at a time and live it to the fullest!

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